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Military

The Museum's superb military collections document the history of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States. The collections include ordnance, firearms, and swords; uniforms and insignia; national and military flags and banners; and many other objects.

The strength of the collections lies in their enormous depth. Some 3,000 military small arms and 2,400 civilian firearms document the mechanical and technological history of the infantryman's weapons from the beginning of the gunpowder era to the present. Among the 4,000 swords and knives in the collection are many spectacular presentation pieces. The collections also include Civil War era telegraph equipment, home front artifacts from both world wars, early computers such as ENIAC, Whirlwind, and Sage, and materials carried at antiwar demonstrations.

This .54 caliber smoothbore, percussion lock pistol was made by the Palmetto Armory of Columbia, South Carolina around 1853. This pistol is brass mounted with a black walnut stock and an iron swivel type ramrod.

The lockplate is stamped “COLUMBIA/S.C. 1853” at the rear and is stamped “PALMETTO ARMORY S*C*” in a circle around a palmetto tree under the flashpan. The left side of the barrel near the breech is stamped “WM GLAZE & CO”.

History:

The Palmetto Armory was established in 1852 by Columbia silversmith and jeweler, William Glaze and his associate Benjamin Flag. They purchased their equipment from Asa Waters of Milbury, Massachusetts. This armory initially retained its original name, the Palmetto Iron Works, which was famous for making tools, barrels and cotton gins. In 1851 the state of South Carolina contracted this company to produce arms for the South Carolina militia in preparation for a potential war.

In addition to muskets and rifles, the Palmetto Armory produced 2,000 Model 1842 Palmetto Percussion Pistols for this contract between the years 1852 and 1853. These pistols were among the first to be issued to Confederate Troops during the Civil War. By 1860, any of the additional pistols that had not been sold to the federal government were sold to the state government. The factory was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War in February 1865.

Because of the “1818” stamps on the lockplate and barrel, this pistol has been inaccurately called the Model 1818 Springfield Pistol. It actually originated in 1807 at Secretary of War Henry Dearborn's request for the mass production of pistols at the Springfield Armory. Three months later, Springfield Armory produced 300 locks, 400 barrels and one sample pistol for Dearborn. While Dearborn thought “the pistol [was] a good piece of work, the [.69] caliber [was] too large” (Smith, 278) and production ceased on the project.

The locks and barrels were primarily untouched until 1817 when the Superintendent of the Springfield Armory at the time, Lieutenant Colonel Roswell Lee, wrote to the Ordnance Office in Washington because he believed “it would be a saving to make [these locks and barrels] work into pistols” (Smith, 278). After receiving approval, Lee ordered the production for this particular pistol and many other U.S. Model 1807 pistols.

This .69 caliber smoothbore flintlock Navy Pistol was made by Thomas French of Canton, Massachusetts between 1812 and 1814. The pistol is pin fastened with a walnut stock and has a wooden ramrod with a swelled tip. Its brass mountings include a brass butt cap. The unmarked barrel and belt hook are iron. The pistol is a bag grip.

“T. FRENCH” is stamped at the rear of the lockplate and an eagle over “US” is stamped under the flash pan. A horizontal “V” is stamped on the left side of the stock to the rear of the brass sideplate.

History:

In 1808, Thomas French and two other men received a contract to produce 4,000 Model 1808 muskets. By March 4, 1818, the Committee of Claims declared the contract had been fulfilled. During this time, French was also manufacturing pistols. Because of an inspector in Boston, French’s arms had to be “superior weapons” no matter the cost. The Committee of Claims ultimately issued a voucher to French for the additional cost in the production of these firearms.

The Model 1814 French Navy Pistol was manufactured for the U.S. Navy and American privateer merchant fleets in Massachusetts. It bares the same marks as the Model 1808 Muskets that were issued by the government, so it is likely they were used by the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.

This .69 caliber smoothbore flintlock Navy Pistol was made by Thomas French of Canton, Massachusetts between 1812 and 1814. The pistol is pin fastened with a walnut stock and has a wooden ramrod with a swelled tip. Its brass mountings include a brass butt cap. The unmarked barrel and belt hook are iron. The pistol is a bag grip.

“T. FRENCH” is stamped at the rear of the lockplate and an eagle over “US” is stamped under the flash pan. A horizontal “V” is stamped on the left side of the stock to the rear of the brass sideplate.

History:

In 1808, Thomas French and two other men received a contract to produce 4,000 Model 1808 muskets. By March 4, 1818, the Committee of Claims declared the contract had been fulfilled. During this time, French was also manufacturing pistols. Because of an inspector in Boston, French’s arms had to be “superior weapons” no matter the cost. The Committee of Claims ultimately issued a voucher to French for the additional cost in the production of these firearms.

The Model 1814 French Navy Pistol was manufactured for the U.S. Navy and American privateer merchant fleets in Massachusetts. It bares the same marks as the Model 1808 Muskets that were issued by the government, so it is likely they were used by the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.

This .54 caliber smoothbore flintlock Navy Pistol was made for the U.S. government by an unknown maker around 1807. The barrel is pin fastened and it has an iron belt hook on the sideplate, brass mountings, and a wooden ramrod.

The lockplate is stamped “DREPERT” and has a federal “US” stamp at the rear. There is also a raised “P” stamped in the oval proofmark.

History:

Although the maker of this pistol is unknown, its lock is stamped “DREPERT” and the hammer is marked “US.”

The pistol probably was made under U.S. contract. The belt hook on the pistol signifies that it is a ship’s pistol. Several other traits denote the pistol’s Navy usage. The “US” stamp on the lockplate also represents a U.S. contract. It is most likely that Drepert was commissioned to make this type of pistol for the Navy.

This .69 caliber smoothbore flintlock U.S. Model 1813 pistol was made by Simeon North under Army contract. It has an inclined brass flashpan with no fence. The larger sized hammer denotes that this pistol was made in Middletown. The barrel is nine inches long with an octagonal breech and no sight.

The lockplate is stamped “S. NORTH/MIDLN/CON.” in two semi circles around the “U.S.” and eagle stamp. The barrel is stamped “P./US” on the left side of the breech. The right side of the breech is stamped “H.H.P” for ordnance inspector Henry H. Perkins. The left side of the stock is stamped “LS” in script for ordnance inspector Luther Sage.

History:

Simeon North was the first to produce mass orders of pistols for the U.S. government. His factory in Berlin, Connecticut grew so large that in 1813, he opened a larger factory in Middletown, Connecticut. This factory employed 50-70 people, had nine water wheels, three trip hammers, two lathes and boring, drilling, polishing, turning, and milling machines.

The U.S. Model 1813 Pistol was made at the Middletown factory. These new pistols were the first firearms produced under a government contract that required standardization and interchangeability of parts. The Model 1813 is somewhat rare because production ceased in January 1816. Lieutenant Colonel Bomford from the Ordnance Office in Washington sent a list of alterations of this pistol to North. The caliber would be reduced to .54 because the recoil was too strong, the barrel, tang, and mountings were to be browned, and a sight would be added.

This .52 caliber smoothbore flintlock U.S. Model 1819 pistol was made by Simeon North for a U.S. army contract. This pistol has a sliding safety bolt located at the rear of the lockplate that half cocks the hammer while the frizzen covers the primed flash pan. It has all iron mountings with a swivel iron ramrod. The barrel band is secured by a spring backstrap that travels from tang to butt plate. The front sight is a brass blade and the rear sight is oval on the tang.

The lockplate is stamped “S. North” in a semicircle above the “U” and “S” on either side of an eagle with “MIDDLTNCONN.” in a semi circle below. The barrel is stamped “RJ/P” for Robert Johnson and “JD/P” for John D. Johnson – both of whom tested the barrels. The stocks are stamped in cursive “LS,” “ET,” “JM” “JN” and “JW” for ordnance inspectors Luther Sage, Elisha Tobey, Justin Murphy, John Newbury, and Jos. Weatherhead respectively.

History:

The U.S. Ordnance Department showed Simeon North a sample pair of pistols from the Harper’s Ferry Armory on June 12, 1819. North then produced a pistol similar to that of Harper’s Ferry with a few alterations. He signed a contract with the U.S. on July 21, 1819 producing 10,000 pistols. A total of 20,400 were made.

This pistol’s sliding safety bolt is rare for a pistol from this year. When these pistols were converted to percussion, this bolt was often removed because it got caught on holsters. This pistol also introduced the iron swivel ramrod. It was created because wooden ramrods often fell out of pistols and were lost.

This .64 caliber smoothbore, flintlock Mode 1808 pistol was made by Simeon North. It was standard production for the U.S. Navy. This pistol is pin fastened with a full walnut stock and hickory ramrod with a swelled tip. It has brass mountings including a brass flashpan with fence lock. An iron backstrap extends from tang to butt cap. An iron belt hook is attached to the sideplate.

On the lockplate is an “eagle over U.STATES” stamp under the flashpan and a “S. NORTH/BERLIN/CON.” Stamp at the rear. Two internal “694” stamps are found both on the left side of the breech plug and in the stock under the backstrap.

History:

This type of pistol was created by Simeon North as the standard issue for the U.S. Navy used during the War of 1812. The pistols were manufactured in his first factory in Berlin, Connecticut. 3,000 of these Model 1808 Navy pistols were produced – 2,000 pistols in 1808 and another 1,000 in 1810. The production for these pistols set the standard for American manufacturing.

It is believed that North paired his pistols like the Harper’s Ferry Armory. In the records for North pistols, there are two pistols that share the same three digit serial number. The stamps are internal and difficult to locate, so this discovery was not made easily.

This .69 caliber smoothbore flintlock Model 1811 pistol was made by Simeon North. It is pin fastened with a full stock and wooden ramrod with a swelled tip. It has brass mountings including an umbrella shaped butt cap.

The lockplate is stamped under the flashpan with an eagle over “U. STATES” and at the rear is “S. NORTH/BERLIN/CON.” Ordnance inspector “HHP” is stamped in the stock. The barrel has proofmarks. One proofmark is a sunken oval with an eagle head over “CT” and the letter “V” below it. “P” is stamped on the back strap by the tang screw. No internal serial number.

History:

North completed the first batch of Model 1811 pistols to change the way the barrel fastened to the stock making disassembly easier. This type of pistol transitioned into an iron double strap barrel band attaching the barrel to the stock. This alteration was created by U.S. Inspector of Arms, M. T. Wickham.

This type of pistol is unusual because it has no internal serial numbers. Authors of Historic Pistols, Edwin Bitter and Samuel Smith believe this was due to a first attempt to add proofmarks to the barrel. Prior to this pistol, barrels were unmarked.

This .67 caliber smoothbore flintlock U.S. Model 1808 Navy pistol was made by Simeon North. It varies from the North Model 1808 Navy Pistol, Standard Production (1983.0777.07) because of the bag grip. This pistol is pin fastened with a walnut stock and a wooden ramrod with a swelled tip. It has brass mountings including a brass flashpan. There is an iron backstrap extending from tang to butt cap, and an iron belt hook attached on reverse.

The lockplate has an eagle over “U.STATES” stamp under the flashpan and “S.NORTH/BERLIN/CON.” stamp at the rear. The stock has a “V” at the rear of the side plate. The serial number is 335.

History:

North made this type of pistol in two contracts – one in 1808 and the other in 1810. This type of pistol was most likely produced during the 1808 contract because of its grip. A bag grip makes a pistol heavier and therefore would not have been as efficient as the Standard Production pistol.

While the grip is unusual for use in the U.S. Navy, there is another unusual feature. The stamped letters are smaller than the Standard Production Model 1808 pistols. The text and symbols however are the same.

This .52 caliber smoothbore flintlock dueling pistol was made by Simeon North. It has a browned octagonal barrel with blued breech inlaid, gold bands and a cartouche. It has a silver and blued mounted, half-cock safety behind the hammer. This pistol also has an iron front sight and open back sight. It has a finely engraved trigger guard and barrel tang but the silver oval escutcheon behind the tang is not engraved. There are finely checkered grips and horn tipped stocks with a wooden ramrod and horn tip.

The only stamped engraving on the gun is on the lockplate. Under the flashpan is the stamp “S. North”.

History:

In 1804, duels were common practice in America. It was a way for men from all walks of life to defend their honor. The process begins when one man offends another. He then has an intermediary called a Second challenge the offender to a duel. If he accepts, the offender then chooses the weapon.

Because of the Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Duel, the popular weapon of choice was a large caliber smoothbore pistol like Simeon North’s Model 1817. This gun was chosen for many reasons. Between the years 1750-1850, it was common for a man in America to own a pair of pistols similar to this type. Also the smoothbore makes the gun relatively inaccurate -- duels did not always result with a death.